Spring cleaning

Why hello. Long time no see, my old friend.

So I just re-read my old Wall-e post because I got a new comment posted on it. It really does surprise me when people randomly find this blog. I hardly update it and never have anything substantial to write about. Except for that one Wall-e post. I also find that I can't write anymore. Halfway through reading my post, I thought, "wow this is good, that's exactly how I felt" before I realized I was reading my own post I had written two years ago. Isn't that sad?

My lack of proper use of grammar, vocabulary, and interesting sentence structure can be blamed on the quantity of writing and reading I've been doing lately. One would think that the stimulation would promote creative juices and an intellectual flow of ideas and thoughts. I think I hit that plateau and now I'm overstimulated and overwhelmed. So much so that all the writing and reading has backfired and now I'm one incoherent lump of a student/employee. That's bad!

Life has been interesting lately. I go through bouts of hope and excitement, then suddenly get hit by fatique, annoyance, and my own set of life rules. I hope I'm not bipolar!! ;) No, I'm not, just dealing with a lot lately and having to balance work, school, and life and its upsets wreaks havoc on my grounded nature. If I give a little, I sometimes end up feeling like I'm condoning bad behavior and setting precedences; if I don't give in and compromise my principles, I feel bad and unpopular and wonder if sticking to my guns really makes a difference. I wonder if my principles and life rules make me unapproachable in that others think they will be judged. What is it that they say? Those who critize others are often the most critical of themselves? Yeah, that's me.

I speak vaguely on purpose because I don't want to give any details or examples of what's been causing this undue stress. So let's just think about the positives:

1) Ricklet and I got our refund check from the IRS! YESS!! Time to put that away for Italy, baby! Although I let Ricklet have the state check and he went out and bought new golf irons today. ;) My mother-in-law is right; I do spoil my husband!

2) Fun trips coming up! Napa at the end of the month and Morro Bay in June.

3) I have only 3 more quarters left of school - that's 5 classes! Summer quarter is my last core course and Intro to Databases. Fall is one required course and one elective (I'll be taking Children's Literature - that should be so much fun!) and Winter is my last required course. I'm so stoked! I'll be "degreed" in March 2011 and probably walk in the June commencement ceremonies in Philly. :)

4) I think I have approval for a conference in October in Pittsburgh. Never been to PA before and I'm going to try to get Ricklet to come with me.

I'm also hoping to get some work done on the house. Like unpack. ;) Still have a lot of boxes left, stacked up in a nice little area of the office. Obviously I don't need anything in there, right? ;) I haven't done any crafts or sorted out the wedding leftovers. And the garage needs to be cleaned out. Still have the last few items down there from the old apartment. When I'm done with this quarter in early June, I want to paint or change out some fixtures in the house before summer quarter starts. Somehow the place still doesn't feel like ours even though we've been there for almost a year now. And I can't enjoy it until it feels like home.

Another thing that has been on my mind is babies. Babies! What?! Yes, you heard me right, BABIES! Well, maybe just one baby for now. ;) But Ricklet and I have plans... and babies aren't in the plans for another few years. How do you know when your clock has begun ticking? Because I didn't hear or feel mine start and suddenly it's not ticking anymore, but the bomb at the end of the timer has already exploded! How did that happen without my knowing? I usually listen carefully to my body...